The present invention relates generally to real-time communications systems, and more specifically to a real-time communications system in which a hyperlink on a web page, an e-mail message, or other hyperlink-supporting document may be employed to indicate the on-line presence of a user, and to initiate an on-line meeting or teleconference between multiple users when selected by a mouse or other user input device.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/731,872 filed Dec. 9, 2003 entitled RULES BASED REAL-TIME COMMUNICATION SYSTEM and assigned to the same assignee of the present invention (“the '872 application”) discloses a real-time messaging system that facilitates real-time convening of teleconferences and other forms of on-line communications between multiple users. As disclosed in the '872 application, the real-time messaging system includes a plurality of client or user computers communicably coupleable to a real-time messaging server computer via a communications network. The real-time messaging system maintains and stores an availability status in association with each system user. In the context of the disclosed real-time messaging system, the availability status of a system user generally corresponds to what is commonly referred to as the on-line presence of that user. The real-time messaging server is operative to apply a set of rules and user attributes to the availability status of the system users to find appropriate users and/or user groups, and to invite them to join a particular on-line meeting or teleconference.
In a typical mode of operation, to initiate a real-time on-line meeting, a user generates a request to convene the meeting by entering information into the real-time messaging system via a graphical user interface (GUI) provided on a client or user computer. For example, the user may enter a list of desired invitees or participants for the on-line meeting. It is understood that each meeting invitee or participant corresponds to a user of a computer coupled to the network. The user may also enter a number of attributes associated with the meeting request (e.g., the meeting topic, location, time, and/or priority) and one or more of the meeting participants (e.g., the function or role of a participant, and/or an indication of whether or not the presence of a participant is necessary for the meeting to convene). Next, the system identifies the initial members of a participant group, and determines whether each user within the participant group is available to participate in the meeting. Such availability of the participant group members can be determined based on user-defined availability filtering, and/or the attributes associated with the meeting request, e.g., which user requested the meeting, the meeting topic, and/or whether or not the user is a necessary participant in the meeting.
In the event one or more members of the participant group are currently unavailable, the real-time messaging system determines whether there are any acceptable stand-ins for the unavailable group members. If there is an acceptable stand-in for an unavailable group member, then the system determines whether that stand-in is available to participate in the meeting. In the event the stand-in is available, the system determines whether or not that user agrees to be a stand-in for the unavailable group member. The system then substitutes all acceptable, available, and agreeing stand-ins for the unavailable members of the participant group. Finally, if there is a sufficient number of members of the participant group available, and all members of the participant group deemed necessary are available, then the real-time messaging system convenes the requested on-line meeting.
One drawback of the real-time messaging system disclosed in the '872 application is that each user who wishes to initiate an on-line meeting or teleconference is typically required to become a subscriber or a registered user of the real-time messaging system. For example, each subscriber may be required to provide account information, and information relating to stand-in definitions, availability filters, and/or contact lists of other subscribers as well as non-subscribers. In addition, each subscriber of the real-time messaging system is typically required to install specialized, dedicated software on his or her computer to allow him or her to access the features of the real-time messaging system. For example, such software may be operative to obtain instantaneous availability information for the various subscribers, including event notifications indicating when a user logs on or off a client system. However, requiring users to subscribe to the real-time messaging system and to install specialized, dedicated software on their computer equipment to access the system features significantly limits the overall utility of the system.
It would therefore be desirable to have an improved real-time messaging system for a plurality of users that obviates the need to become a subscriber or a registered user of the system. Such an improved real-time messaging system would also render the need to install specialized, dedicated software on the user computers unnecessary, while avoiding other drawbacks of conventional real-time messaging systems.